how ideology works
Demonstrate how ideology works in a media text. Use lifestyle magazines as your key example.
The Choice of essay question: Demonstrate how ideology works in a media text. Use lifestyle magazines as your key example. Demonstrate how ideologies work in the text to construct and speak to the reader. Your answer should draw upon relevant academic literature to support your argument.

Brief explanation: In my opinion, the following question is asking me to analyse how ideology works to influence in a media text. In other words, the understanding of ideology is the most important element to identify how media texts deliver ideological concept to the public. So the ELLE magazine and Vogue magazine will be used as my key example.

The overview of argument: The argument I could try to prove in my essay is to identify the impact of political ideology on fashion trend in the world. That is to say, ideology defines the social norms. It is also important that people have intelligence to adapt their sense of beauty and fashion within current social norms.

The identification of the chosen case study: The justification of my choice about using ELLE magazine and Vogue magazine to demonstrate how ideology works in a media text is that fashion’ is the topic which never outdated and the using of fashion magazines can reveal the same ideological problems exist in the social class. But recently, individuals would like to blindly followed the trend that famous fashion magazines (ELLE, Vogue, Instyle etc.) construct to them. Although ideology’ is a broad topic to identity, using fashion magazines can be a suitable way to explain some aspects of the relationship between ideology and readers (How people addressed, what vision of the world/people present).

Indicative bibliography: 1. ELLE magazines
2. Vogue magazine
3. Adorno, Theodor & Horkheimer, Max (1944, rpt 1993) The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception’ in Simon During (ed.) The Cultural Studies Reader, London, Routledge.pp.29~43
4. Nichols, Bill Ideology and the image: social representation in the cinema and other media’, Indiana University Press 1981

Announcements:

1. You should read the reading I provided before write the essay because the reading I provided should be in the reference.

2. You should put more references in the essay and use Harvard Reference Style.

3. You MUST demonstrate ideology by textual analysis of ELLE magazine and VOGUE magazine. And using the knowledge of Debates in Media Study.